Do Penguins Know the Offside Rule?

To celebrate the beginning of the World Cup, Dundee Heritage Trust volunteer Gemma takes us on a deep dive (or was it a foul?) of football and sports in the Antarctic.  

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Introduction

Sport is something that brings people together and creates moments to remember. With the 2026 Football World Cup capturing audiences across the globe, this made me think about photographs of explorers on the ice playing football. Their audience wasn’t cheering fans, but curious penguins. Who knows if they ever got to understand the offside rule! 

There are records of football games being played in Antarctica dating back to some of the earliest expeditions. The first game I came across is from the early days of exploration in 1902, when the Officers and Warrant Officers onboard the Royal Research Ship Discovery played the Crew, with the former winning. New Zealander Clarance Hare, the Steward and Wardroom Assistant noted, “during the match an Adelie penguin jumped up onto the ice, out of the sea, and came running in great haste to see what all the excitement was about”.  

Later, during the Oceanographic Expedition (1925 – 27), RRS Discovery‘s crew formed their very own football team. Known simply as the “Discovery Team”, they played against other vessels and land-based visitors. 

Scott’s journals from the Terra Nova expedition (1910 – 1913) highlighted how important football was as an opportunity to “stave off boredom, encourage sociability and fitness”. He thought Edward Atkinson was “by far” the best player while Frederick Hooper, Edgar Evans and Tom Crean were “quite good”. He did, however, note how everyone was improving their condition and skill. 

Playing a game of football on the ice has continued to occur on this frozen continent to the current day, with games being held between teams representing different bases. 

In his book, ‘The Ship Beneath the Ice – The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance’, Mensun Bound describes a game of football held in tribute to Shackleton and his crew January 2019. This also attracted the attention of penguins, this time high brushtail penguins, who came “storming onto the pitch” disrupting what he described as a “match…[that] soon became totally shambolic…much slipping and sliding.” They had games later in their trip with scientists versus crew, as well as one during celebrations following the discovery of the Endurance wreck March 5th, 2022.  

There was even a game where David Beckham captained a team in 2015, in which international explorers and guides made up the teams. He had set himself a challenge to play football on all 7 continents of the world, ending with a game at Old Trafford as a fundraiser for UNICEF. 

The photograph below shows members of HMS Protector‘s Ships Company playing football on the ice as the sun sets in Antarctica, in December 2013.

The 2012 Royal Research Ship Discovery, stewarded by Captain Stewart Mackay, also continue the tradition of playing a friendly match to blow off steam. There are rumours of a 1901 Discovery vs 2012 Discovery fundraising match one day soon…   

Football wasn’t the only sport played in Antarctica; games of hockey and rugby were also played. There are accounts of a sports day and concerts being held to celebrate King Edward VII’s birthday, which took place over two days in November 1902, celebrated by the crew and officers on Scott’s 1901 Discovery Expedition. 

Admission to the floe of the football grounds was as follows; “Members of the Antarctic Athletic Club – Free. To public – One Emperor Penguin’s Egg. Children not admitted at any price”

The sports included: 

• Toboggan race 
• Weight putting 
• 6-man team sledge dragging 200lb per man half a mile 
• Ski running down slope 
• Tug of war 
• Ski race on the flat 
• Sledge dragging on ski 
• Shooting .303 rifle at 100 and 200 yards 

Accounts record the 1901 Discovery being dressed up with flags to commemorate the occasion. Evans won the flat ski race; officers won the sledging by a small margin and the cook, Thomas Clissold, won the shooting.  

In the second season, hockey was all the rage, as Captain Scott documented in his diaries; “The great game for the season is hockey; whenever the weather permits all hands join in the keen contests we hold on the floe. The game is played with light bandy-sticks and a hard ball made on board; it is just as well we have not the heavier sticks, as few rules are observed and figures can be seen flying about with sticks held high above their heads ready to deliver the most murderous blows”.